Tonight: An encore airing of Why We Did It

Tonight, as you likely know from having seen last night’s preview, we present an encore airing of the Why We Did It documentary hosted by Rachel Maddow. Because this is technically an msnbc documentary and not a regular episode of The Rachel Maddow Show, we can’t offer it in clips the same way. To watch the whole thing online, you can go through the msnbc iPhone app or through the episodes at Now.msnbc.com. And, of course, the Why We Did It site has a lot of extra video as well.

Now, if you’re already seen Why We Did It and you’re still looking for a Maddow fix, I’ve been holding onto a link for just this occasion…

Laura Bush once told an interviewer that her favorite book is The Brothers Karamazov. In 2003, with America in the throes of the Iraq War, Tony Kushner wrote a short play inspired by this news. It depicts the First Lady reading the Grand Inquisitor section of Dostoevsky’s novel to an unlikely audience: Iraqi children wearing pajamas in heaven.

On November 3, 2013, Public Forum’s new Drama Club series featured a reading and discussion of Kushner’s provocative play. In keeping with the mission of Drama Club—to bring together the finest artists and the most insightful people in American life—the play was read and its political and moral themes were explored by the talented actors Elizabeth Marvel and Denis O’Hare, plus Rachel Maddow of MSNBC.